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3 Unexpected Ways Virtual Assistants Boost Your Wellness

In my experience, effectively working with a team of competent virtual assistants is critical to establishing and maintaining a sense of mindful wellbeing on our journey as entrepreneurs. Working with my team of VA’s allows me to maintain this blog and an intense cycling training schedule, all while still having time to spend with my growing family and earn a living. Knowing how to work effectively with my team of very competent VA’s also complements my efforts to live with a balanced sense of wellbeing along the way.

For entrepreneurs, effectively working with competent VA’s helps us -

1 - Unclutter our minds

2 - Steal time back

3 - Reduce stress

VA’s and Mindful Wellbeing on the Entrepreneur’s Path

These benefits help entrepreneurs experience wellbeing in a mindful way, as we pursue the entrepreneurial path. I couldn’t imagine just rolling with it without my team of virtual assistants from Fancy Hands. I’ve worked with VA’s in pretty much any capacity you can think of and have hired them from a number of sources, including oDesk/Elance (now Upwork), Zirtual and Fancy Hands. Over the years, Fancy Hands has become my go-to VA team, for reasons I’ll discuss in a separate post.

Here are my stats since I started working with them -

These stats remind me to be grateful for my VA team from FancyHands and how they’ve helped me unclutter my mind, steal back time and reduce stress. May effectively working with your own team of competent VA’s help you experience these benefits as well.

There’s Only So Much Our Minds Can Process

David Rock, in his book Your Brain at Work, talks about how we can work within the limits of our mind to maximize its use as a resource. David's premise is that the mind can only fit so much into it at one time and as a result, what we are able to process is limited. How we prioritize what we allow our mind to process defines what we can get done and how efficiently we can do it. I’m a big believer in this idea.

Having a team of VA’s that you trust helps you clear space in your mind for what’s most important. Once you offload a task to your team, you can stop thinking about it and get it out of your head, resting your mind in the assurance that a VA from your team -

Has received the task

Will keep track of the task for you

Will get the task done!

Effective delegation of tasks to your VA frees up space in your mind for what’s important, whether that’s resting in the moment or using your brain for more value added thinking.

Stealing Time Back

Time is one of the most valuable resources we have as entrepreneurs. It goes without saying that delegating a task to a VA steals us back the time we would have spent not just completing the task, but also from the time we spend switching among tasks. If you look at my stats, you’ll see that Fancy Hands conservatively estimates that they’ve saved me 14.4 days. I believe that, in reality, that number is much, much higher.

Once this time has been recovered, we can use it in others areas of our life to increase our wellbeing, such as exercising, meditating and spending time with loved ones, if we resist the urge to try and get even more done in the time that’s been stolen back for us. Over time, the comfort of experiencing this additional time in our lives makes it easier to be present and stay in the moment, since we’ll have less of a tendency to feel like we’re one step behind, which, at least in my own experience, is a common feeling that entrepreneurs struggle with on their journeys.

Reducing Stress

If you know how to work effectively with VA’s and have a competent team of VA’s you can trust, working with them can greatly reduce the stress you experience on your journey as an entrepreneur. I think a lot of people don’t work with VA’s or stop using them because they either don’t know how to work effectively with their VA’s and/or don’t have a competent team of VA’s they can trust. I’ll get into how to effectively work with VA’s and find a team of competent VA’s you can trust in a separate post. Suffice it to say here that the reduced stress you experience when your trusted VA team is integrated effectively into your workflow is a beautiful thing.

The stress reduction you experience can be enjoyed in many forms. For example, you may find that -

Being more present and in-the-moment is easier, because you’re not constantly processing your to-do list in your mind, thinking about what needs to be done or what your going to do next

Have more time available for stress reducing activities in your life, e.g. meditation, if you resist the urge to pile more to-do's into the time your VA’s save you

Worry less, by delegating tasks to your VA that are particularly stressful to you and may trigger highly charged emotions for you personally

I feel fortunate to experience these benefits on regular basis. While my mind is still pretty busy, it's less cluttered and I experience the benefits of meditation to be enhanced as a result or working with my team of VA's from FancyHands. The time my team of VA’s has stolen back for me has been critical in allowing me to maintain this blog and my intense cycling training schedule, all while spending time with my growing family and earning a living.

Finally, combined with other stress reduction techniques, my team of VA’s from FancyHands helps me rest in the assurance that things are getting done, even when I’m off doing other things, like meditation and yoga, to help actively reduce stress in my life.

May you learn to work effectively with your own team of competent VA’s and experience these benefits on your own journey as an entrepreneur.

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About Chris

Chris is a dad, husband, entrepreneur & cyclist who meditates. He's learning to live mindfully productive and well, while hoping to help others do the same. Chris lives in Brooklyn, NY, with his wife, son and Afghan Hound.